A Female-Led ‘Doogie Howser’ Reboot Is Coming to Disney Plus

Before he was Barney on How I Met Your Mother, or Neil Patrick Harris in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle he was ... well, he was also Neil Patrick Harris. But this Neil Patrick Harris was first known as the precocious teen star of the ABC dramedy Doogie Howser M.D., a unique medical show about a child prodigy (that’d be Doogie, played by Harris) who becomes the country’s youngest doctor by graduating from medical school by the age of 14. It sounds kind of goofy, but it was a real show — I loved it as a kid! — that lasted for four seasons and nearly 100 episodes.

And now, according to Deadline, it’s due for a revival, with Disney reportedly looking to bring the show back in a new form on their streaming service, Disney+. The new version will be gender-swapped reboot called Doogie Kealoha M.D., with a girl Doogs who lives in Hawaii. More details, from Deadline:

Doogie Kealoha, M.D. centers on a 16-year-old half Asian, half white girl who works as a doctor. The lead character’s ethnicity reflects Hawaii-born [Kourtney] Kang’s own background — she previously tapped into her experiences growing up in a mixed-race family in a comedy pilot for NBC.

Doogie 2.0 would be the latest in a series of nostalgia driven reboots and revivals coming in the months ahead to Disney+. The streaming service is already working on a Lizzie McGuire series that has been plagued with creative issues. They’re also in production on a new Mighty Ducks TV show that would introduce a new cast, while also bringing back the old movies’ main star, Emilio Estevez, as hockey coach Gordon Bombay.

A new Doogie certainly fits within that pattern. If nothing else, it sounds like it’d be fun to watch the new show with your kids. The original Doogie Howser is streaming on Hulu right now as well in case reading this news makes you feel like you need to scratch that nostalgia itch.